The clarion., 1887-10-19
FORBIDDEN HONEY.
eERMoN BY REV. DR.. TALMACE
IN THE TABERNACLE.

Depicting and Injurious Books of the
Period-The Popular Taste for Pure
Literature Is Poisoned by the Scum Of
the Publishing House.
BROOKLYN, Oct. 16.-"Seven hundred
and eighty one thousand three hundred
and sixteen dollars and twenty-four cents
have been paid cash down in this church
for religious uses and Christian work dur
ing the nineteen years of my ministry, -
said the Rev. t. DE Witt Talmage, DID,,
in answer 10 the misrepresentation that
have been going through some of the re-
hgiOus papers depreciating the work Of
the Brooklyn Tabernacle. After giving
out the hymn:
our God, our help IN ages past,
Our hope for years 20 come.
DIR. Talnlage preached a sermon, the sub
1ect Of which was Forbidden Honey, 4"
the text being j Samuel xiv, 43: II did
but taste little honey with the end Of
the rod that was in my hand, and, 10, j
must die. DIR. Talmage said;
The honey bee is a most ingenious
architect, Christopher Wren among in
sects, geometer drawing hexagons and
pentagons, freebooter robbing the fields
Of pollen and aroma, a wondrous crea-
ture of God whose biography, written by
Huber and Swammerdam, is an enchant-
ment for any lover Of nature. Virgil
celebrated the bee in his fable of Aris-
tssus, and Moses, and Samuel, and David,
and Solomon, and jeremiah, and Ezekiel
and st. John used the delicacies of bee
81 t.<l A
miracle Of formation is the bee: five eyes,
two tongues, the outer having sheath Of
protection, hairs on all sides of its tiny
body 10 brush up the particles Of flowers,
its flight 80 straight that all the world
knows Of the bee line. The honey comb
is a palace such as no one but God could
plan, and the honey bee construct;
It's cells sometimes "a dormitory and
sometimes a storehouse and sometimes a
cemetery. These winged toilers first
make eight strips of wax, and by their
antenne, which are TO them hammer,
and chisel, and square, and plumb line,
fashion them for use. Two and two,
these workers shape the wall. If an ac-
cident happen they put up buttresses OF
extra beams 10 remedy the damage.
When about the year 1910 an insect, be-
fore unknown, in the night time attacked
the bee hives all over Europe, and the
men who owned them were in vain try
ing 10 plan something TO keep out the in
vader that was the terror Of the bee
hives of the continent, il was found that
everywhere the bees had arranged for
their own protection, and built before
their honeycombs an especial wall Of wax
with port hole through which the bees
might 90 10 and fro, but not large
enough 10 admit the winged combatant
called the Sphinx Atropos.
Do you know that the swarming Of the
bees is divinely directed? The mother
bee starts for a new home and because oi
this the other bees of the hive get into
an excitement which raises the heat oi
the hive some four degrees, and they
must die unless they leave their heated
apartments, and they follow the mother
bee and alight on the branch of tree,
and cling TO each other and hold on until
committee of two or three have ex-
plored the region and found the hollow
of tree or rock not far off from q
stream Of water, and they here set up a
new colony, and ply their aromatic in
dustres, and give themselves to the
manufacture Of the saccharine edible.
But who can tell the chemistry of that
mixture OF sweetness, part Of it the very
life of the bee, and part of it the life ol
the fields2
Plenty of this luscious product was
hanging in the woods of Beth -aven dur.
ing the time of Saul and Jonathan. Then
army was in pursuit of an enemy that by
Gods command must be exterminated
The soldiery were positively forbidden
to stop to eat anything until the
work was done. If they disobeyet
they were accursed. Coming through
the woods they found place where ths
bees had been busy, great honey man
ufactOry. Honey gathered in the hollow
of the trees until il had overflowed upor
the ground in great profusion of sweet
ness. All the army obeyed orders anC
touched it not save Jonathan, and he mo-
knowing the military order about absti
nence dipped the end of stick he haG
In his hand into the candied liquid, anC
as, yellow, and brown, and tempting
il glowed on the end of the stick he pu
il to his mouth and ate the honey. Judg
ment fell upon him, and but for specia
Intervention he would have been slain
In my text Jonathan announces his awfu
mistake: 'I did but taste little honey
with the end of the rod that was in my
hand, and, 10, must die" Alas, whai
multitudes of people in all ages have
been damaged by forbidden honey, by
which mean temptation, delicious an6
attractive, but damaging and destructive
Literature fascinating but healthfu
comes in this category. Where on,
good, honest, healthful book is read now
there are 100 made up of rhetorical
trash consumed with avidity. Wher
the boy ON the cars comes through will
a pile of publications look over the title
and notice that nine out of ten of tn,
books are depicting and injurious. AL
the way from New York TO Chicago O.
New Orleans notice that objectionabl,
books dominate. Taste for pure litera
ture is poisoned by this scum of the pub
fishing house. Every book in which sill
triumphs over virtue, or in which ;
glamour is thrown over dissipation, Oh
which leaves you ut its last line witt
less respect for the marriage institution
and less abhorrence for the paramour, i
depression of your own moral character
That book bindery may be attractive, ant
the plot dramatic and startling, and the
Jonathan dipped up with his rod, bu
your best interests forbid 1t, your mora
safety forbids il, your God forbids it, anc
one taste of II may lead to such bad re
suits that YOU may have to say at tn.
close Of the experiment or at the close q
O misimproved lfetime: II did but tast.
a little honey with the rod that was in my
hand, and, 10, 1 must de-
Corrupt literature s doing moro today
for the disruption of domestic life thar
any other cause. Elopements, MARTA
intrigues, sly correspondence, fictitious
aamss given at postoffice windows clan
destine meetings In parks, ard ut ferry
gates, and in hotel parlors, and conjugal
perjuries are among the danlnable rc-
suits. When q woman, young or old,
gets her head thoroughly stuffed with the
modern novel she is in appalling peril
But some one viii say: The heroes are
so adriotly knavish, and the persons so
bewitchingly untrue, and the turn of the
story SO exquisite, and ell the characters
50 enrapturing. / cannot quit them" My
brother, my sister, you can find styles Of
Literature just as charming that win ele-
vate and purify, and ennoble, and Chris
tianize while they please. The devil
does not own all the honey. There is a
wealth OF good books coming forth from
our publishing houses that leaves no ex-
euse for the choice of that which is de-
bauehing 10 body, mind and soul. Go to
some intelligent men or women, and ask
Tor list OF books that viii be strength
ening to your mental and moral condi-
ton. Life is so short and your time for
improvement SO abbreviated that you can
not afford to fill up with huslks, and cin-
ders, and debris. In the interstices of busi-
ness that young man Is reading that which
VIII prepare him to be q merchant prince,
and that young woman Is filing her